Page 92 - Sun Rays_December 2015

News from the SC Stacks

By Nancy Davis The Wall Street Library continued to grow. Nancy is the representative for the
The May 1998 Sun Rays announced new Sun City Texas Library.
Once upon a time in Sun City shelves, new volunteers and a Donation
Texas, there was a library named Day on the first Fridays. By November filled up the available shelf space. This
Wall Street Library. That library 1998, the library was accepting donations of is still a concern, and will continue to be
later became known as Sun City Library. books on tape. March 1999 mentioned that as Sun City residents have always been
I’ve been doing some research on the early shelving was limited again, and that the very generous with their books. The
days of our library by reading the old Sun decision was made to not accept donations lack of storage space for supplies and
Rays, starting with the year 1996. There of magazines. Rochelle Margolis, aka “The recently donated books also continues
are differences between the library then Boss Lady,” was the first reference to a to be a problem. We no longer get loans
and the library now, but there are also lead volunteer, appearing in the September from Georgetown Library; however, the
similarities. 1999 Sun Rays. In November of that same WOWmobile does supplement the selection
year, it was announced that the library’s of materials. The amount of furniture has
The first time I found the library name has been changed to Sun City Wall also changed. In the beginning, the library
mentioned was in January of 1997, St. Library. had chairs, a sofa, table, a television and
when a request for donations was made a computer. Today, we have one chair, a
for a volunteer-run Donation Day held on By September 2000, the library had small table with chairs, and no television
January 22. The announcement declared acquired new shelving and held an “Open or computer.
that unneeded books would be donated to House” to celebrate. Although the shelves
the public library, a senior center or other gave more space for books and videos, I will continue to research the very
public/charitable entity. there still was no space for storage of interesting history of Sun City Library.
supplies and unlabeled books. Additional If you have memories of the early Wall
In June of 1997, an announcement for shelves consisted of opening the bottom Street Library to share, I would like to
“Book Worm Donation Day” requested section that had been closed cabinets along know about them and will share these
contributions on June 2, with a request the two long walls. memories in future articles.
for subsequent donations to be made on
the first Monday of each month thereafter. In 2001, Nancy Barbour briefly led the
volunteers, and a short time later Barbara
Due to a lack of storage space, donations Dixon took over the leadership. For a
were only accepted during a short window while, the Georgetown Library sent a
of time. By February of 1998, the shelves rotating collection of large print books,
were filled to bursting and patrons were videos and audio books to our library, and
urged to check out lots of books. these needed to be checked out. However,
all materials belonging to Sun City were
A note from the volunteers in November now borrowed using the honor system. The
1997 indicated that the library had all new shelving in 2004 consisted mainly of
kinds of literature, not just books on the low shelves in the center of the room.
investment topics. The note also said that
non-fiction books could be checked out by Over the years, the library continually
filling out a check-out card and leaving
it in the box, but fiction was borrowed on
the honor system.

This undated but very early photo of the library shows This undated photo is probably from 2001-2003. The shelv-
there were only nine shelves of books, plus two carousels ing has expanded to both sides of the fireplace, and the
of VHS tapes. The bottom cabinets were closed and not wall opposite the fireplace. Note the furniture in the center
used for shelving books. of the room, and the return basket behind the sofa.
90 | SUNRAYS DECEMBER 2015
ONLINE: SCTEXAS.ORG